ISTE Live ‘24 with Sofia Anisimova, Dan Ryder, and Tayrn Lang

Join Georgia and Jessica as they learn from some of the amazing educators who presented at ISTE Live ‘24’s Playgrounds. Learn from Dan, Tayrn and Sofia about the creative approaches they are taking in education.

Transcript

ISTE's The Edge Podcast at ISTE Live '24 with Sofia Anisimova, Taryn Lang, and Dan Ryder

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[00:00:00] Georgia Terlaje: It's time for the edge. A podcast brought to you by ISTE community leaders. Whether you're a seasoned educator, a visionary administrator, or a passionate education enthusiast, fasten your seatbelts, plug in your earbuds because this podcast is tailor made for you. Get ready to embark on an exhilarating journey as our ISTE community leaders take you behind the scenes and into the dynamic world of education.

[00:00:21] Georgia Terlaje: And the episodes ahead will unveil stories from the front lines. Showcasing the relentless dedication and innovation that fuels the transformative field of education. Buckle up, embrace yourself for an adventure. Coming up today, we're recording live at It's D24 in Denver. I am one of your community leader hosts, Georgia Trilahi.

[00:00:41] Georgia Terlaje: I'm a TK5 instructional coach and educator of 35 years. And I'm here with my favorite partner in crime, the Bonnie to my Clyde, Jessica Pack. 

[00:00:50] Jessica Pack: Thanks, Georgia. I'm always happy to be hanging out with you, my friend. I'm Jessica Pack, a middle school teacher and an ISTE author, and we are so thrilled to get to talk to not one, not two, but three fabulous guests today.

[00:01:05] Jessica Pack: We're joined by Dan Ryder, Taryn Lange and Sophia Anisimova. Thanks for joining us here on the edge, everybody. Let's do a round of introductions. Dan, we'll start with you. Who are you and what is the context in which you work? 

[00:01:21] Dan Ryder: Hey everybody. My name is Dan Ryder. I am the director of design and innovation at community regional charter school, a small public rural free charter school in central Maine.

[00:01:35] Sofia: That's awesome. Thank you. And Sophia. Hello, my name is Sofia and I'm teaching English as a second language. I come from Western Siberia of Russia. And my main focus is teaching adults, giving them opportunities for professional development through English as a tool. 

[00:01:53] Jessica Pack: Thank you. 

[00:01:56] Taryn Lang: And my name is Taryn Ling.

[00:01:58] Taryn Lang: I am a business and technology teacher from Holliston, Massachusetts. A big passion of mine is project based learning, design thinking. Now we have our famous AI, or the big phrase. So how does that, you know, all blend together and really It's this big push for meaningful learning in 2024 and beyond. 

[00:02:18] Georgia Terlaje: So welcome to the edge, everyone.

[00:02:20] Georgia Terlaje: Welcome to ISTE 2024. We're so glad to have people in real life. Makes our hearts happy. So we're fortunate to be here at a playground at ISTE. There are so many incredible creative people, truly innovative approaches to education. So being in the room all together is kind of amazing. So what are you sharing at the playground today?

[00:02:39] Georgia Terlaje: Can we start with you, Taryn? 

[00:02:40] Taryn Lang: Yeah, absolutely. So I presented with my colleague, Sarah Kuhn, who is technology and English also at Halston mass and our big aha this past year was looking at, you know, the project based learning design thinking now AI, but also social, emotional learning. So we've had all these buzz words the past five years and content areas.

[00:03:02] Taryn Lang: To be able to adapt to these things, but how can we really blend it all together? And today we really just shared talking about how AI can be that tool. So the tool for teachers and students, I actually had an experience, a student used my AI, had it and it worked. Their presentation and didn't know what it meant in terms of what they were presenting.

[00:03:23] Taryn Lang: I'm like, okay, there's something here to dig deeper. And it's organic, I think, for all of us in diving into the AI, the tools, how we can use them. So really just looking at how AI can support us, but then going into with students owning their learning, they can really look to change us. Walk out of that classroom.

[00:03:42] Taryn Lang: They're not just, you know, taking something from chat GPT and throwing it on a piece of paper. They're learning to connect with real world, learning how to communicate, meeting community members, creating partnerships and being able to, you know, work with authentic audiences. And again, I think that is so much more powerful.

[00:04:00] Taryn Lang: And in doing student reflections, I've really been able to see that magic happen. 

[00:04:05] Jessica Pack: That's so on the mind of every educator at ISTE. I think every single session centering on AI that I've walked past has been just packed. And I think a lot of teachers are struggling with how do you kind of change the attitude students have toward AI as a thought partner, like you're saying.

[00:04:23] Jessica Pack: What effect have you seen in your students in terms of being able to apply, you know, That learning to one tool, but then transfer it to all of the other AI that they might encounter. 

[00:04:34] Taryn Lang: Yeah, absolutely. So great question. And looking at this, I actually, you know, really started to dive in. This spring and looking at first, just having a conversation with the students.

[00:04:46] Taryn Lang: So, Hey, where are you using AI? Where is it helping you? Do you actually realize these tools are part of your everyday life? As well as the classroom. So really just looking, I think they're truly learning to say, Oh, okay. I can't just use an AI tool and use it as my work. They really have to do that deeper dive and, you know, certain subjects are, it will be.

[00:05:11] Taryn Lang: I think more difficult for them to be able to maneuver that learning experience, so to speak, in terms of where It's going to impact them. And also I had a conversation with my entrepreneurship students where we talked about AI. We just did a gallery walk with some questions to say, I, what are your thoughts on AI, what is generative AI and have them define it, but also look for their futures and what are jobs going to look like for them?

[00:05:38] Taryn Lang: So I think that's really where, you know, the big aha, I think I've seen from the student perspective, and it will be really interesting to explore. 

[00:05:48] Georgia Terlaje: Thank you, Taryn. The beauty of the playground is there's so many different things that you can come and play and try. So, Sofia, can you tell us what you were presenting at the playground today?

[00:05:58] Sofia: Yeah, my innovation comes from pain, as usual. And I had a school, a small school where I tried to teach adults English because I saw that people in Western Siberia have limited employment opportunities because they just have restricted knowledge. They don't have access to another language. And in 2020, when the pandemic hit, I came up with the idea to create a course that would be an immersive course.

[00:06:24] Sofia: Of course, because it's easy to commit for adults because the problem is like with the G membership, you know, you buy this, you go five days and then you skip it. The same was with my English class. A lot of people drop out of it just after two, three days and how I came up with this idea. I decided to restrict the time, say, okay, it's, Hey, 16 consecutive days.

[00:06:45] Sofia: You can do it. You're going to make it. And the main idea would be that you have to. Do the task every day. And the task would be recording a two minute audio with any fluency that you prefer with any poses that you prefer answering the questions. And the most powerful thing that we gave them a question.

[00:07:05] Sofia: Context. We started with the Queens gambit and these actually empowered them because they had a context of chess and it was they were some people from USSR that playing chess and they could relate and they could deep into the culture of the U S as well at the same time. And they had to watch the video at any level they understand, then learn the vocabulary, like read it.

[00:07:29] Sofia: And we had translated for them. And then they had to answer the questions in audio. The main idea, it was anonymously, and they had to make an audio at the same group, like everybody could listen to each other. And the teacher, myself and my assistants were given a feedback also orally, very slowly. And what happened in four days, they just started to be more confident, more fluent.

[00:07:55] Sofia: And there was a small trick. We said, if you don't submit two consecutive assignments, like audios. You would have to be kicked out of the group. It's a rule. And they had a competition and they say, okay, they didn't give up. I won't give up as well. Here's social comparison played a very huge role and they were like having favorites, even though they didn't know each other's names, it was absolutely anonymously and what happened in the short term.

[00:08:20] Sofia: They agreed to continue to other courses and they increased their level of English in six months up to two levels from pre intermediate to intermediate and even upper intermediate. And in the long term, in four years, we created a community of 60 plus adults who maintain their language, who have surgeons, engineers, different kinds of professionals in the same place with the same goal.

[00:08:46] Sofia: Discuss different topics in English as a tool. So that's how we came up with a system of immersive serious learning 

[00:08:53] Georgia Terlaje: I love what you said in the beginning of how innovation happens out of pain. So that's a great that's a great Quote about really much pretty much everything. So I love that they're continuing Do you find like are they finding opportunities to like socialize?

[00:09:11] Georgia Terlaje: around, like, speaking English, like, beyond the classroom. 

[00:09:15] Sofia: Absolutely. We have a King's Karaoke Party that we hold every time for the New Year and by the end of the spring term. And we come to the club where all people speak Russian and then, 50 or 60 people start speaking in English, all these songs in English.

[00:09:32] Sofia: And everybody's like, who is this? And this is a popularization of, you know, of another language to understand what people are singing because they sing with understanding and they sing professionally because we've practiced for four years already. And also we go to different outside events like barbecue.

[00:09:51] Sofia: It's too cold to go to barbecue in winter, but in winter we go to different restaurants. Play Mafia and people bring their friends and they get to know our culture and join our community as well.

[00:10:06] Jessica Pack: That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing the transformative effect your work has had on your community. Dan, what are you presenting today? 

[00:10:15] Dan Ryder: Nothing nearly as cool as that. So today I was speaking about game based thinking and critical creativity and speaking of the work that I do there at community regional charter school, but also the work that I've done with Jackie Gardy at the U S department of state and creating resources for English language learners all around the world that are based around.

[00:10:37] Dan Ryder: Creative expression and using creative expression to help deepen understanding of both language and then other content areas as well 

[00:10:46] Jessica Pack: So, can you give an example of how creative expression or what types of opportunities you're structuring? 

[00:10:53] Dan Ryder: Yeah, absolutely. So today's lesson that was kind of like the highlight was creating characters to demonstrate that you understand content.

[00:11:02] Dan Ryder: So I adapted this character creation tool that we developed through this virtual exchange. Through the state department called the it was called American English Comics VX. It was this virtual exchange that involved like 300 educators around the world who all teach English in, in all these different countries, that's what around the world means.

[00:11:21] Dan Ryder: I'm realizing that now, but what I was, what I was, Do I say Matt now? Do I say, no, you better keep this in there, Matt. Matt, keep this in, Matt. Keep it, Matt. So you'll find Matt now 11 times in your AI tool. But the idea is we developed this tool to help them create superheroes for their communities.

[00:11:49] Dan Ryder: And where they are in the world that reflect the values of their cultures. And then they would take their superheroes and put them to work to help in other participants countries. So they had to understand what the needs were of the other countries and what they're going through and, and, and then finding commonalities, which was like one of the most gorgeous things about that whole experience.

[00:12:11] Dan Ryder: And that all led to making comics based on that. So I took that same idea and I just adapted it to my chemistry students or learners. I should say, we say learners and facilitators at my school. It's like a philosophical. Approach where we facilitate knowledge, not, not teach knowledge. Right. And we can get into all that another time, but I like to make sure I make that clear.

[00:12:35] Dan Ryder: So. Our learners learning chemistry, most of them, it's a mixed group of ages from age 12 to 17 because we multi age everything as long as you have an interest in it. We make sure it's developmentally appropriate to the learners, of course, because there's certain things you don't want a 17 year old talking about with a 12 year old.

[00:12:55] Dan Ryder: But for the most part, most content is totally fine. And so I had them creating characters based on the elements from the periodic table of elements. And we use the same method to develop these characters. And they had to develop not just one character, four, and then explain how they're related as a way to explore different types of molecular bonding.

[00:13:17] Dan Ryder: And their personalities need to reflect the elements and the qualities of that element. And and in, so doing the end product was either a short story, a video game a animation or comic book was, was one of their four narrative. And so that's kind of how, you know, one way to go about doing that, that content through a creative expression, expression.

[00:13:42] Dan Ryder: Try that again. 

[00:13:43] Jessica Pack: That really resonates with me because what I hear you talking about is story and storifying content that would otherwise maybe be a little bit dry or even inaccessible to some kids. And we know that brain science, of course, supports storytelling to learn. So one follow up I have is, How do students respond to this?

[00:14:01] Jessica Pack: Like this sounds like a dream environment and a dream task to me as like 11 years old. So what's their reaction? 

[00:14:09] Dan Ryder: So shockingly enough, they didn't all take right to it. It's not shocking at all. It's because they're still adolescents and they're still in school, right? So part of it is so many learners.

[00:14:20] Dan Ryder: We're a school of choice, right? They choose to come there. So when I looked around the room on that first day, I knew about a third of them were new to our school. And, and even those who had been there for a year, they're still getting used to this idea. Our school, it's student centered. We try to customize everything to the learner and meeting the learner where they're at.

[00:14:39] Dan Ryder: We are proficiency based, so you can try a lot of things and make mistakes and it's okay. And they're risk averse because they've been conditioned to think you have to get it right the first time, or there's never another chance. So once we could get through that and they're like, wait, what is this?

[00:14:56] Dan Ryder: This is weird. And I co created with, so part of my presentation today that I was doing in the playground was showing the character that I created and how I went about doing it. And then I'd sit right down next to them and co create with a couple of them in a small group. And say, all right, guys, let's, who are we making and what are they going to look like?

[00:15:14] Dan Ryder: And then I doodle it up and draw them up and drop the character. And then they could kind of see the path. So they ended up doing a really lovely job in the end. But the initial going, it's like, what is this? And, and Hey guys, put your phones away. Put your phones away. I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing, guy.

[00:15:34] Dan Ryder: I don't even know. I'm like, okay, yeah, I get it. I wouldn't understand either if I hadn't been listening. But if. You know, if you would take the time to give it a shot, but I get it. They're there, they've been conditioned to think school isn't that right. And that's what the other reason we do facilitators and learners, right?

[00:15:52] Dan Ryder: Cause we're all learning and I don't have to be an expert in chemistry to help you make some cool stuff. Right. And that really shows what, you know, because I was paired up with a chemistry teacher who could go in on the, you know, in behind and go, Oh, yep. That's, that's accurate. Or I'd be like is that what an inert gas does?

[00:16:10] Dan Ryder: Cause I'm not sure. And they, Oh yeah, yep. Yep. Or no, no, absolutely not. That's not helium at all. 

[00:16:18] Georgia Terlaje: I'm totally with Jessica. I would be completely engaged in chemistry class if I had to do makeup characters for the periodic table. I mean, I would a hundred percent have understood it more and been like full on.

[00:16:30] Georgia Terlaje: So I think that's such a cool idea just to get kids. and understand it. 

[00:16:36] Dan Ryder: Well, what I was thinking about when Sophia was sharing her story was how they used the queen's gambit, right? And it's the story is the hook there, right? Like some people might be like, no, it's the chess. Like I assure you, if the story was terrible, it would not be the chess because we've all seen terrible movies about chess.

[00:16:56] Dan Ryder: Like everyone's like, Oh, this is going to be great. It wasn't right. It's, It's the story and that's what gets them wanting to communicate about it and talking about it because it's those characters, right? So if we can tap into narrative, it's the same in business, right? In developing and, and how we're going to use these AI tools, what's the story we're telling, right?

[00:17:16] Dan Ryder: And it really comes back to that, which It's like, we were just talking about the, you know, the humanizing of all of this stuff, right? That in, in all this technology stuff, but at the center of it, it's story. And I know that AI can generate some stories, but I'll tell you what, if you put it in a prompt about three times, you're getting the same story.

[00:17:37] Dan Ryder: If you can tell there's, there's all these little things, real, true stories that, that are authentic and coming from the learners or the people experiencing them. If they're made up. You can tell when it's organic and it's out of a human brain, because it's weird and it's got some crazy stuff that happens, right?

[00:17:55] Dan Ryder: And that's where, that's where the authenticity comes in. And it's also a great way to figure out if they actually know what they're talking about. 

[00:18:01] Georgia Terlaje: Oh, absolutely. Cause it's synthesis of information to create that character. You have to know a lot of stuff to be able to put yourself in the shoes of. an element of the periodic table and just to tag team like Jessica and I live in storytelling land and talk a lot about the brain science of storytelling.

[00:18:20] Georgia Terlaje: And it goes back to cavemen with paintings on the wall. So we are programmed in our DNA to have stories resonate. So I don't understand why more people don't use that as their hook for things because immediately we're drawn in if we have a story. 

[00:18:37] Dan Ryder: And in the comic book that, that Jackie Gardy and I and our friend Mr.

[00:18:41] Dan Ryder: Ailes created we use the caveman drawings as like the original, you know, the, the original comics, right? Right. Because that's, that's the, that's the connecting tissue. Exactly. Which is. 

[00:18:52] Georgia Terlaje: Which gives me goosebumps to think about. It's like this, this has been going on for thousands of years. We need to harness it and not, you know, poo poo it.

[00:19:03] Georgia Terlaje: And, you know, that's not, you know, professional or whatever. It's like, no, I'm listening to you. If you're telling me a story, I'm listening. 

[00:19:09] Dan Ryder: Newsflash. We're more alike than we're different. Exactly. That may not be the most exciting, exciting thing to admit, but it's true. 

[00:19:18] Georgia Terlaje: It's true. So before we kind of wrap up, we just want to go around and ask you what is something you're passionate about, passionate about after coming to ISTE, maybe going forward in the next year that you're taking back to your people and your teams.

[00:19:34] Georgia Terlaje: So can we just start with Taryn and be linear? 

[00:19:38] Taryn Lang: Yeah, absolutely. So I think, I just think coming here, it's all about getting re inspired. And I think as an educator, you know, In this world we live in today, especially post pandemic, there's so many different things. Students today, accountability. So I think just being able to get inspired with our colleagues and looking to say, depending on the sessions we're going to, where can we come in?

[00:20:05] Taryn Lang: And like Dan was just saying, create those authentic, meaningful learning experiences because It's it. That's the power. And that's where students are able to reflect and say, Hey, I can apply this in other areas of my life as well. And also, it's all about the empathy and the relationship. So I think we start on our level, all of us connecting, and we can bring that to our students.

[00:20:30] Taryn Lang: And I think that's what's powerful, you know, and go going back to Massachusetts, but just creating and continuing the conversations. 

[00:20:39] Sofia: So as for me, I'm trying to push very much project based learning in our region because our school is individualistic people. When I graduated from school, I couldn't collaborate.

[00:20:49] Sofia: I couldn't manage people. I couldn't listen. And I lost a lot of years of my life. figuring out how to do it. And I wanted to empower kids to, you know, to work together collaboratively. And I needed tools because now they need engagement. They need more engagement than ever to get distracted from their device.

[00:21:07] Sofia: And I learned, I hope, and I've already learned, and I hope to learn more tools for project based learning to make them together again in different applications by using different teamwork with the technology because they, Already bored with the, you know, this posters that they have to make by themselves.

[00:21:26] Sofia: They need more. And that's what made me empowered here. And I'm, I hope to learn more and bring it to my region.

[00:21:37] Dan Ryder: I want to learn how to turn on a computer because I really, I'm just mostly inept when it comes to all technology. I'm kidding, Matt. So My, one of my big pushes is to help learners become creators rather than consumers. So my eyeballs are always open for opportunities and tools and experiences where, Hey, you don't have to just play the game, right?

[00:22:02] Dan Ryder: You can, this is a very much 1980s Nintendo ad. But you don't have to just play the game. You can be the game. But really it's truly like, have, have, have fun. What can, what tools are out there that allow 3D scanning and allow us to use things like Unreal Engine and and, and Unity and other similar tools to become digital creators and analog creators because you need both to succeed and what tools are out there that can actually help augment So, Analog creating, right?

[00:22:33] Dan Ryder: And in a, in a real way and, and not just a shiny and sparkly, which there's a, there's a place for shiny and sparkly. Don't get me wrong. I've made all the transitions in PowerPoint in 2000 as well. But. But what can we, what's out there right now and what can I encounter? And I've been really fortunate to go to a couple of sessions already.

[00:22:54] Dan Ryder: So Heather Brantley showing me some super cool stuff that we can do with, with 3d scanning. I'm super excited about and allowing my learners to take the world around them. And make it digestible for say people in Western Siberia, which I found out today is much like Maine or found out yet, I guess I found out the other day the Sophia was explaining that she had been to Maine and said it was just like Western Siberia.

[00:23:20] Dan Ryder: And I was like, that's fantastic. 

[00:23:24] Jessica Pack: Well, thank you so much. This was such a great little tasting menu of a million different ideas. And I just, you know, this is the magic of ISTE Live for sure, is to be able to sit down with such great minds in one place. Hey, could you really quickly share your socials or a way that listeners could reach out if they're intrigued by what they heard and they want to follow up?

[00:23:45] Taryn Lang: Yes, absolutely. I am on Twitter and it's at t Griggs Lang, T-G-R-I-G-A-S-L-A-N-G. Give me a follow. 

[00:23:56] Sofia: Oh, I, I would love to connect on LinkedIn. I'm growing my network of educators and I'm there like Sophia, N-S-A-N-I-S-I-M-O-V-A, or you could find Sophia King's Travel King's English, so, 

[00:24:11] Dan Ryder: and I'm Dan Rider.

[00:24:12] Dan Ryder: I'm on all the socials as wicked decent w. I C K E D D E C E N T New England shout out. And I'm also on LinkedIn DanRyder207 on the old LinkedIn. 

[00:24:28] Jessica Pack: Well, that wraps up this episode of The Edge Podcast. We hope you had a great time. My name is Jessica and you can find me at Pacwoman208 on Xthreads and Instagram.

[00:24:40] Georgia Terlaje: And I'm Georgia Terlahi and you can find me at Georgia Terlahi on X and both of us at StorytellingSavesTheWorld. com. 

[00:24:49] Jessica Pack: On behalf of everyone at ISTE's The Edge podcast, remember to keep exploring your passion, fostering your creativity, and continue taking risks. All things that can bring you to the edge.